Although the U.S. Army recruiting office told peace activists that they would be open on Saturday until 2PM, the doors were closed and locked at noon. Apparently the military chose to avoid conflict with anti-war protesters, leading to a small victory for the peace movement.

Several people spoke out about the military's tactics used to lure young and poor people into enlistment. One protester warned everyone in the area of the imminent danger of death that may come to those who enlist. Others told passer-bys to pay no attention to the increased incentives of college and monies promised by the army, as they often lie. Also, if you are killed, you will never see the benefits.

Las Vegas CityLife managing editor, Matt O'Brien, was on the scene with his photographer to interview participants at the action. O'Brien said he was not going to spend his entire day covering the protests around town, but thought this action was the most worthwhile of coverage. He stated that he would write about all the actions of the day in the CityLife.

The CityLife photographer argued about the reason behind the recent firing of radical journalist Saab Lofton. He claims that political ideaologies did not play a role in the lay-off, saying it was "economics" and Lofton's poor writing skills. Local activists knew better.

Some of the drummers circle played drums to draw attention to the action.

After a short while the group decided it was a small victory for peace that the recruitment office closed up shop. The protesters agreed to visit the Army recruiting office on Sahara, between Maryland and Paradise to see if they were open for business.

"The CityLife photographer argued about the reason behind the recent firing of radical journalist Saab Lofton. He claims that political ideologies did not play a role in the lay-off, saying it was 'economics' and Lofton's poor writing skills."

Poor writing skills, huh? Funny, that's the first I ever heard of such a thing. Maybe someone should've brought something up during the last company Christmas party, instead of hiding how they felt all these years ...

Well, it's as they say, history is written by the victors. And if the bad guys win, then that's how I'll be remembered: as a poor writer. THAT'll let the powers that be off the hook, alright!

Oh, well. There are far worst things in life, like being busted in the rain by the pigs on the one hand and knowing that the CityLife (or any other local news source with a decent-sized audience) won't be covering said sacrifice on the other hand.

I'm ashamed to say I was so broken-spirited over what happened to me that I went straight home after the Wake Up the Media Thing. Truly, those who got busted last night were the R-E-A-L superheroes.

Meanwhile, Lex Luthor has bought the Daily Planet and fired Lois and Clark ...

Saab,

You poor fool. I owned CityLife before. You were part of my plan to discredit alt journalism in Las Vegas by distracting readers from anyone who had a coherent, sane argument to make. Alas! My plans were foiled.

For the unintitiated, CityLife was owned for over 10 years by a $41 million dollar corporation, from which Saab was happy to take money from. And when Stephens Media took over, he didn't quit, which according to his princicples, he should have done.

But if you're only concerned about creating an image of being a radial, and had no actual convictions, that wouldn't bother you.

Lex

Oh yeah, your writing was atrocious and you made giant leaps in ill logic -- a fact you were informed of many times, from what I understand.

LL

Let's see: Michael Moore's Oscar-winning Bowling for Columbine was paid for by Canadian taxes, so since Canada is far from perfect, I suppose Moore should've turned down that grant in the name of ideological purity ... good thing Moore's got more sense than that (or, evidently, this sick fuck who would willingly name themselves after an arch villain).

I actually asked Matt O'Brien back in 2001 if the CityLife could become a worker-owned paper. He said no. I was willing to try; he wasn't; simple as that. And no, I wasn't going to Stalinistically force the issue just to impress a sorry-ass piece of shit online!

I'm beyond sick and tired of bored, spoiled-ass white leftists not doing a damn thing because they're waiting for the one, true leader/movement. What would you have me do? Not try to reach the thousands who read the paper because it was corporately owned? Moore's TV Nation and The Awful Truth were on corporate networks--were those shows not supposed to air because some fuck who won't even reveal their real name on a website is looking for perfection out of the left?

Finally, the only motherfuckers who found what I wrote illogical were right-wing scum--does that apply to your skanky ass, "Luthor"? I was voted the third best freelance columnist by the Nevada Press Association in 2002 and SECOND best in 2003 ... what the fuck have YOU done with your so-called life except (probably) spend a shitload of money at Hot Topic at the fucking mall buying jeans with holes PURPOSELY ripped in them by children in sweatshops? God, how I hate this town ...

Wow, you seriously need some fucking help. I mean, your generalizations of people are hindering your ability to correctly think. Generalization of a person by saying that they wear "hot topic" when you have no idea what they wear is a pretty sad thing. Even if they do wear "hot topic" what in the hell gives you the right to decide what clothes are unacceptable, and what clothes aren't. Hmm... looks like someone is insecure. I am sorry if you have taken this offensively; but then again you probably are very close to being illiterate. I say this because of the following statements:

You stated: "was willing to try; he wasn't; simple as that." Well you obviously have no idea how to use a semicolon. To fill you in, they are used to put two separate sentences together. Semicolons are used instead of a period. As far as I know, "he wasn't" is not a complete sentence. Another mistake in your writing was that you did not indent at all. None of the paragraphs were indented.
Before you try to state that I am a rich leftist, I would like to say that I am in NO WAY saying that you are not a good writer. However, I am saying that you appear to be just a tad judgmental. By the way I am in the 5th grade, and that means you just got...owned by an insignificant child. (Aww... don't you feel silly now?)

you're a month late, me, on that comment. you're probably just trying to fuck with people, huh?

Of course they're just trying to fuck with me! What other legit motive could they possibly have? It's called reaching ... For over three years, my column indicted the elite and all they can do is fixate on a insignifigant error? That's reaching for an excuse to discredit me when there are no real reasons to do so ...

How can I be judgemental about Hot Topic? How can the Vegans get on my case about eating meat? Yeah, that's what I thought. And I'd dare say using child laborers in third world sweatshops is just a WEEEEE bit more imporant than sparing a cute, li'l bunny rabbit ...

I exposed the oil industry, the CIA and the School of the Americas during my tenure as a member of the press, so whoever this is impyling that I should've been fired because I fucked up a semi-colon is truly petty and anal in the extreme. Which is more imporant, America? Impressing the anal or telling the masses the truth?!

Keep reraching (whoops! spelled that wrong)!

What gives me the right to talk shit about a motherfucker shopping at Hot Topic? What gives you the right to waste space talking shit about a fucking semi-colon? They say history is written by the victors ... and if--after exposing the forces of evil in my column for over three years--all I'm remembered for is forgetting a semi-colon, then the bad guys will have truly won indeed ...

Go good guys!

The criteria for a string of words being defined as a sentence is it has to have a subject and predicate. Therefore, "he wasn't" *is* a complete sentence, because you have the subject "he" and the predicate "was not". So given that this is a complete sentence, there was nothing wrong with Saab's use of the first semicolon. The reason his second semicolon might not have been grammatically correct (but who cares except you) is because "simple as that" is not a complete sentence. And you didn't indent your paragraphs either, nor did you separate your last paragraph in the same way that separated your first two paragraphs.

So check with your fifth grade teacher next time before you go grading others' work, otherwise you just might get owned by Saab, whatever that means.

have;a;great;life;and;don't;forget;to;study;up;on;your;grammar!

Saab, yes, there are people who are vegetarians who are coming from an animal rights point of view, which can get annoying, but there are also those who are vegetarians for political reasons, who are coming from an anti-racist, pro-feminist, pro-human rights point of view. Some are also coming at it from a pro-environment point of view, because of the damage today's mass farming does not only to the land and water, but to the people living off them. Usually the countries/lands where the greatest amount of environmental devastation is levied are countries/lands where the people are poor, have no legal power to fight US industries through their own bribed governments, so they just get sick and die all so we can have our damn hamburgers. There is a whole host of reasons eating meat in the U.S. within the current "system" we have now is equal to encouraging the child labor and human rights atrocities that the meat industry causes. Take away the animal abuse, and it's still an industry well worth boycotting.

If you want to understand more about this, read "Diet for a Small Planet."

What does this discussion have to do with the counter-recruitment action?

I doesn't seem to have anything to do with counter-recruitment.
However, I suspect none of the commentors were recruited/recruiting while posting the comments.

There was a ( ) spot on PBS yesterday where a conservative news commentator was interviewing an articulate US soldier about ongoing tactics in Iraq. There was a moment when the soldier looked to the commentor for his opinion of how "we" are viewing the war(s). The commentator admitted to being embarassed by the news stories that have dominated the major networks recently (run away bride & such crap) You could see in the soldiers eyes he wanted to know what we here thought.
For a brief moment it was obvious to them both and this viewer that the soldier is exposed while we are entertained by this bullshit, paying for this bullshit on COX communications.

Some of us here have lost jobs.

Well those poor bastards in Iraq are getting blown up daily.

This wonderful democracy of ours is allowing it to happen.

Our wonderful democracy.

Can you even remember a presidential election where you felt good about the choice?

I can't.

Do you know me? Probably not, so I ask, don't talk abusive about me to others, and what my career choice is.

If you want to get this "thread" BACK on the subject of counter-recruitment, here ya go:

"The pioneers of a warless world are the youth that refuse military service." -Albert Einstein

http://vitw.org/cr/

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0224-26.htm

The military spends about $3 billion each year to convince young people that enlistment will give them college money, job training and an alternative to working at McDonald's ... most students don't know that:

* Two-thirds of recruits don't get any college money, according to the Central Committee for Conscientious Objectors.
* Most people in the military do not have time to attend college while in the service.
* To qualify for college money recruits have to pay $100 per month for a year.
* The unemployment rate for veterans is three times higher than the national average.
* People who sign up with the Delayed Entry Program are told they can't change their minds, but getting out is as simple as writing a letter.
* The enlistment contract is for eight years.
* There are other ways to finance college, like federal financial aid, private scholarships, going to community college or joining AmeriCorps.

http://www.commondreams.org/views05/0923-34.htm

Even when protests themselves are unpopular (Americans are notoriously unenthusiastic about virtually all actions, such as marches, that transgress narrow bounds of electoral-oriented debate), they consistently boost public opinion against the war, opening wider discussion of how our country can exit Iraq. No doubt, conservatives will try to conjure pictures of flag-burning hippies to make the anti-war movement look like a marginal fringe instead of a legitimate political force. But those who direct their energy to worrying about such backlash rather than organizing to build a better mobilization make two mistakes: They miss the lesson of John Kerry, who showed that the right-wing machine will do its best to demonize all opposition, and that no amount of tepid moderation will deter them [A-FUCKING-MEN!!]. And they give too little credit to organizers in groups like UFPJ, Military Families Speak Out, and Iraq Veterans Against the War [OR PEACE NOW IN "LEFT VEGAS"!].

Thank you for getting this thread back on the subject. The information in your post was exactly what I was looking for and couldn't rememer where I had initially read it.

Upcoming counter-recruitment protest:

Friday, November 18, 2005 at 2:00 pm

Will post a new article with details.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/9881855/

By Lori Aratani
The Washington Post
Updated: 8:49 a.m. ET Nov. 1, 2005

This month, the Pentagon launched a $10 million marketing campaign aimed at encouraging parents to be more open to allowing their children to enlist. Although officials say the effort is not tied to growing antiwar sentiment, the commercials feature kids broaching the topic of enlistment with apprehensive parents and urge mothers and fathers to make it a "two-way conversation."

I SWEAR TO GOD--THE NEXT MOTHERFUCKER WHO GETS ON MY CASE ABOUT BEING OBSESSED WITH MARKETING IS GONNA WIND UP WITH THEIR FEELINGS HURT ..!

the american corporate dictatorship, a.k.a. facism, is BUILT on advertising! it is a PROVEN method for getting your attention and manipulating you into doing things that you didn't know needed doing! be very aware when it is being perpetrated. see it for what it is, use it for spreading progessive philosophies and ideas! and no saab, i wouldn't put you down for advertising, per se. i'd only critisize it if it wasn't progressive, :-)!
peace,jp

"no saab, i wouldn't put you down for advertising, per se. i'd only critisize it if it wasn't progressive"

Thanks, I appreciate that. I really do.

It's been my unfortunate experience that all too many people ass-u-me that ANY form of advertising is inherently right-wing or manipulative or whatever and that's utter bullshit. I never will forget the time I was at the Anarchist Book Fair in San Francisco and former Dead Presidents front man, Jello Biafra got a copy of my first novel. Now, the book is called "A.D.", as in the Latin phrase "anno domini" (as opposed to B.C.), but Jello thought it'd be cute to tell everyone within ear shot that the title actually meant 'ad' as in advertisment all so he could make me look like some kind of shameless self-promoter in front of all these "pure" anarchists ...

About a year later, Michael Moore came to San Francisco and I got him a copy of "A.D." As fate would have it, Jello just happened to be in the lobby of the theater where Moore was about to speak at that exact moment, saw the book I was giving to Moore, and called out, "Hey, Mike, ya gotta check that out; it's good," or words to that effect.

Sure, I was vindicated, but Jello wasn't the first one who's accused me of being solely concerned with self-aggrandizement over the years and it hurts. It hurts that it never occurred to all these otherwise intelligent people to simply ask me what my motives were (I guess it still ain't that important to know what a nigger thinks or feels) ...

Traditionally, leftists are communal, so whenever there's a lone wolf in the pack, everyone raises an eyebrow like they're Mr. Spock or something. Well, Rosa Parks was a lone wolf and she wasn't trying to promote herself. On the other hand, 1955 wasN'T the first time she had trouble riding a segregated bus, which only goes to show--once again--that the name of the game is fame. If no one ever learned she was busted for sitting in the front of the bus, all that she went through would've been in vain.

http://rwor.org/a/021/in-memory-rosa-parks-resister.htm

She had first refused to move to the back of the bus in 1943 and had been evicted by the white driver; but that, in her words, "did not cause anything more than a passing glance [AND PASSING GLANCES AIN'T SHIT!!]." Rosa Parks�s refusal did not start out as part of a larger plan [AGAIN, LONE WOLF], but word of her arrest electrified politically active Black people in Montgomery. By evening people were planning what to do. The very next morning, a Friday, saw 52,000 leaflets go out throughout the city--and this was in the days of mimeo machines! A weekend of activity and spreading the word--which received the unwitting help of the city�s daily paper when it front-paged [FRONT PAGE, NOT BURIED IN THE BACK! YOU THINK PENNIES; YOU GET PENNIES--YOU THINK DOLLARS; YOU GET DOLLARS] the story of the planned boycott in the Sunday edition--led to a near-total boycott on Monday morning.

* * * *

Anyway, here are a couple of excellent examples of what's possible when (predominantly white) leftists stop being so fucking media shy ...

http://alternet.org/story/11901/

Friday, November 29, is my third favorite holiday of the year, after Halloween and World Car Free Day. It's Buy Nothing Day, an annual revolt against consumer culture. Buy nothing day falls every year on the day after Thanksgiving, the busiest shopping day of the year and the start of the annual Christmas shopping frenzy. The Buy Nothing Day TV ads tell us:

"...The average North American consumes five times more than a Mexican, ten times more than a Chinese person, and thirty times more than a person from India."

"We are the most voracious consumers in the world..."

"...a world which could die because of the way we North Americans live..."

"Give it a rest. November 29 is Buy Nothing Day."

It's a pretty good bet, however, you haven't seen the ads. Last year, ABC, CBS and NBC all refused to sell time to air Buy Nothing Day ads. A spokesperson for General Electric's NBC network brazenly told The Wall Street Journal that the ads were "inimical to our legitimate business interests." Their business interests include banking, weapons and nuclear power. The range of other potentially "inimical" messages is limitless. Westinghouse's CBS network explained that they censored the ads because they were "in opposition to the current economic policy in the United States."

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines03/0125-07.htm

Antiwar protesters, meanwhile, are planning another public relations blitz before the State of the Union address on Tuesday. A plane carrying a banner stating ''Let the Inspections Work'' is set to fly near San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium during the Super Bowl tomorrow. A TV ad, modeled on Lyndon Johnson's ''daisy'' spot depicting a nuclear explosion, is to air in Washington the same day.

A group called TrueMajority has purchased a $200,000 ad buy for Tuesday, when it will air another spot featuring actress Susan Sarandon and Edward Peck, a former US ambassador. In the TV ad, Sarandon wonders aloud about Americans returning ''in body bags,'' while an image of white crosses in the cemetery in Normandy, France, appears behind her. As Sarandon warns of Iraqi women and children dying, an image appears of a distraught woman carrying a child.

What, Sarandon asks, did Iraq do to deserve this? Nothing, Peck responds, saying that Iraq has not been linked to Al Qaeda or the Sept. 11 attacks. The spot closes with an image of a fireball and the words, ''Win Without War.''

Nathan Naylor, a spokesman for Fenton Communications, which represents TrueMajority, said the group was having trouble getting networks to carry the ad, but had lined up spots on CNN in New York and Washington. TrueMajority was founded by Ben Cohen, cofounder of Ben & Jerry's.

* * * *

Ya win some, ya lose some. Now, if we can't advertise because we're too poor to do so, that's one thing. It takes too things to do anything in life, desire and the means--and if you're lacking in either, you're hosed (and for the record, an overabundance of desire will NOT magically compensate for a lack of means, no matter what FOX News says).

But if you're too shy to advertise ... if you're too afraid that advertising will expose you as a leftist (like that's anything to be ashamed of) and alienate your right-wing friends/relatives ... if you're too pure a leftist to use the methods of Madison Avenue/Hollywood ... if you're deluded enough to think that fliers and "word of mouth" are all one ever needs, then it's high time that you follow the advice of Lee Iacocca:

"Lead, follow or get the fuck out of the way."

But let's keep this on point, shall we? Surely ...

http://rncwatch.typepad.com/counterrecruiter/

Final numbers are in from the Department of Defense, and as expected, the Army missed its fiscal 2005 recruiting goal by a wide margin, falling short by more than 6,600 soldiers. The Army National Guard, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve and Air National Guard also all missed their recruiting goals, each pulling in less than 90 percent of their targets.

While some divisions of the armed forces did meet their year-end goals, even some in the military admit the situation is worse than it may appear. An article in Stars and Stripes notes:

But the active-duty Army shortfall � they recruited about 4,000 fewer soldiers than in fiscal 2004 � is especially troubling because the service has already widened its recruit pool to accept older candidates and those with lower test scores, according to Mike Reilly, vice president of operations at the Center for Security Policy.

FEELS GOOD TO KNOW YOU'RE HAVING AN EFFECT, HUH?

http://www.codepink4peace.org/article.php?id=279

Taxes for schools
Chant

Taxes for schools, we are for
Taxes for weapons never more

Tax breaks for poor folks, We are for
Loopholes for Lockheed, Never more

Healthcare for all, We are for
Weapons for war, never more

A living wage, we are for
Corporate welfare, never more

Peace Corps, Americorps we are for
Recruiters in high schools never more
(or: recruiters in [town name] nevermore)

how are you doing? have you found a place to stay?

I guess it HAS been a long month if I actually thought I could get away with a pseudynom--I'm far too much of an extrovert for that sort of thing to last for long. Besides, I was starting to feel like a hypocrite for having a pen name after having gone off on so many for hiding behind theirs while they took pot shots at me ...

I'm typing this from my new home. I just moved in today and I'll start my new job tomorrow, thanks for your concern, "concerned". I was thrown out into the streets because my EX wanted me to be the provider; the bread winner, etc. when I couldn't afford to--so much for feminist role reversal and me being a house husband/"Mr. Mom"-type (the money I made from selling my novel was supposed to have gone towards repaying my printer, but I gave it to her instead and it still wasn't enough--no sooner was I down to the last of a thousand copies did she kick me out) ...

If it wasn't for a member of the Green Party and his family; if it wasn't for my investor, printer and a couple of local organizers (not to mention my best friend from high school), I would've left town or committed samurai suicide by now. As much of a lone wolf as I am, I'll be the first to admit there's strength in numbers. All I can hope is that I'm worthy of such charity. Thanks again, y'all ...

The first time I was homeless was from June 12th, 1991 to July 3rd, 1992. The second time was only for ten days. It is N-O-T something I could survive a third time ...

But enough of the personal shit, let's get back on point:

http://www.unitedforpeace.org/article.php?id=2873

The Facts:

Due to the pressure to meet quotas, as of March 2005, 37 military recruiters have gone AWOL. (New York Times, Sunday March 27, 2005)

This January, for the first time since 1995, the Marines missed their quota (Maj. Dave Griesmer, spokesman for Marine Corps Recruiting Command, told The Associated Press)

The National Guard met only 56% of its recruiting quota in January (The chief of the Army National Guard, Lt. Gen. Roger C. Schultz, told the House panel)

Soldiers given a dishonorable discharge may also give up certain citizenship rights, including the right to legally own or have a firearm and the right to vote in some states.

25% of all soldiers don�t receive honorable discharges

GO COUNTER RECRUITERS! JUST WAIT TILL I GET A MOVIE BUDGET--I'M GONNA HOOK Y'ALL UP ..!

BY THE WAY, WATCH THE BOONDOCKS ON CARTOON NETWORK'S ADULT SWIM. I JUST SAW THE DEBUT EPISODE AND IT ROCKED LIKE A HURRICANE (APOLOGIES TO NEW ORLEANS AND THE SCORPIONS).

Thanks for the encouragement and support you've given us in our counter-recruitment work, and I'm glad you got a place! I say what what follows with love, please know that.

Please read my article about Hillary Clinton. Role reversal does not mean feminism.

In other words, it's not "feminist" to not be the breadwinner. Not saying there's something wrong with not being the breadwinner, just saying it's not *feminist*.

I honestly think the concept of work is too narrowly defined because we live in a capitalist society. You do work, Saab. It's just that your work doesn't bring in money. It isn't capitalist, so it doesn't get rewarded in this screwed up capitalist society. Work that women typically have to do doesn't get paid or appreciated in capitalist society either. Anyway, read the Hillary Clinton article if you want to learn more about what I'm saying.

By feminist, I meant empowering--as in giving power to a historically powerless group of people. By being the one who "brings home the bacon", my EX had the power to determine how shit was run and what I was supposed to do. O-B-V-I-O-U-S-L-Y, empowerment goes far and beyond running a household, but you get the idea ...

Ralph Nader told the California Nurses Association in 1995 that people have been controlled all throughout history by having their expectations lowered. Well, I don't know what my EX expected out of me, but I thought I was being as feminist as I could be. I actually took PRIDE in making sure her dishes were always clean and I used to pick up even the smallest of pieces of lint off her carpet the same way a vampire would pick up mustard seeds ... hell, she never needed a vaccum while I was around!

http://www.angelfire.com/realm/shades/demons/vampires/aguidetovampireschap3pg3.htm

"It is well to scatter mustard seed on the roof and the threshold ... should the vampire return he cannot fail to occupy himself with counting the seeds ..."

I do think it's feminist to engage in role reversal, which is why I'm probably going to wind up turning a blind eye to the fact that Hillary Clinton is going to be an American version of Margret Thatcher and vote for her DLC ass in 2008 anyway. I think it's just that important for women to be in the same positions of power men have hoarded and dominated for ages. Call it Affirmative Action; call it what you will. That's why I created Silverbullet, the world's first black lesbian superheroine ...

http://www.lasvegasmercury.com/silverbullet/

I'm actually trying NOT to think about my EX. I don't want to dwelll and I need to move on, so ...

The American wing of my extended family(relatives)have all been in the service(US Armed Forces plus Vietnam)and they are all alive.One never left the Marines,so how bad can it be if one makes a carreer of it?

I'm a military brat myself, and I can tell you from firsthand experience what it'd take to truly bring honor to the armed forces and cleanse it of evil once and for all--me being in charge!

There are only two armed conflicts throughout the course of Human history that I can think of right off hand that were worth fighting for, and both of them are listed below: the Spanish Civil War of 1936 and the Battle of Cuito Cuanavale in 1988. Read and learn ...

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2004/03/17/opinion/fear_no_evil/fearnoevil.txt

"The Rambo administration thinks solely in terms of what it calls 'peace through strength.' Our answer is strength through peace."
--Sen. Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)

When I quoted James Baldwin last month, he spoke of "new standards" for those in power with white-skin privilege. Well, here they are ...

Since Ralph Nader is running for president again, my faith-based, proposed presidential campaign seems redundant. Still, I just turned 35 (the age one must be to run) -- so for my birthday, I'd like to indulge myself by describing how a Lofton administration would mete out foreign policy.

As president, I'd command the most powerful military known to man. And unlike most other candidates, I'm honest enough to say I don't need $450 billion to defend this country; so I'd cut the military budget in half.

The CIA and the School of the Americas? Fucking gone. Period. If they're not convicted for human-rights abuses, the former employees of these genocidal organizations might find new jobs in my administration.

Besides, I appreciate the need for stealth and intelligence. I'd still want means by which MIAs and hostages could be rescued, so maybe these employees could transfer to Delta Force or the Navy SEALs.

But violently sabotaging Third World elections so that commies can't win them? That shit's out.

Going after the polluters and tax evaders of the corporate elite would keep my soldiers pretty busy. And anyone under my command would only be allowed to use non-lethal weaponry: be it the immobilizing "sticky foam" former weapons inspector Scott Ritter told me was used by Marines in Africa; be it tranquilizer darts; Tasers; you name it. If I wanted to bomb a place, I'd use knockout gas. If I wanted a dictator out of power, I'm not going to sacrifice innocent civilians to do it. A known terrorist would simply wake up one morning bound to a chair at the International Court of Justice in the Hague. We could even make a game show out of it: "Hi, and welcome to 'Crimes Against Humanity.'"

I know I've said that the only war I would've fought in was the Spanish Civil War of 1936, on the side of the anarchists. (As any legitimate historian will tell you, if Francisco Franco was defeated there never would've been a WWII.) But that's before I picked up a great book in the West Las Vegas Library titled How Far We Slaves Have Come! Nelson Mandela and Fidel Castro tag-teamed to write it; and they also appear on the front cover side by side.

It turns out that a key battle was fought in 1988 at Cuito Cuanavale in southeast Angola, so that the South African apartheid system could be weakened enough for Mandela's movement to thrive. Castro provided assistance, even though it was risky for Cuba to send military forces overseas.

After he was freed, Mandela traveled to Cuba and paid tribute: "Without the defeat of Cuito Cuanavale our organizations would not have been unbanned. The defeat of the racist army at Cuito Cuanavale has made it possible for me to be here today."

Most imperialists would bend over backwards to claim all of their battles were similarly honorable. To wit, I say: "Whatever." As commander in chief, I wouldn't care about ensuring that corporations profit or about providing the suburbs with undeserved comfort; I'd only be motivated by a desire to bring about my own obsolescence.

A good fireman isn't supposed to moonlight as an arsonist in order to stay employed. Likewise, a good commander in chief should follow the example of Oscar Arias Sanchez, former president of Costa Rica and the 1987 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize. In the book The Future of Peace, Sanchez wrote the following: "A main focus for me over the past several years has been my work convincing countries to abolish their armed forces. Increasingly, this is not a utopian dream but a most practical and viable alternative. All that is required is political will. Indeed, in the past few years Panama and Haiti have both effectively eliminated their militaries, joining Costa Rica."

Ah, I can see the hate mail now: "Gosh darn it! You're gonna leave us defenseless!"

Relax, Bubba. Global disarmament won't happen overnight. But the whole world will eventually adopt these non-lethal standards -- and there won't be any reason to fear your international neighbor.

http://www.lasvegascitylife.com/articles/2005/02/18/opinion/fear_no_evil/fearnoevil.txt

"I knew what was at stake. There [Spain in 1936] the poor, the peasants, the workers and the unions, the socialists and the communists, together had won an election against the big landowners, the monarchy and the right-wingers in the military. It was the kind of victory that would have brought black people to the top levels of government if such an election had been won in the U.S.A. A black man would be governor of Mississippi. The new government in Spain was dividing its wealth with the peasants. Unions were organizing in each factory and social services were being introduced. Spain was the perfect example for the world I dreamed of. Now all of it was about to be wiped out. The former rulers were determined to retake power. They were being supported by fascists all over the world."
--James Yates

Seems like the preamble to an action-adventure epic, huh? To paraphrase George Lucas, "Several decades ago in a country not so far away. ..."

Lord knows America loves to make a big deal about its veterans -- unless it comes to actually providing for their welfare after they've been discharged. And yet, vets of the Spanish Civil War receive little if any love from our dominant culture. Hell, most Americans haven't even heard of the war.

Imagine if candidates like Ralph Nader, Dennis Kucinich and the Rev. Jesse Jackson won the White House and key seats in both houses of Congress. Then imagine if a few months after the inauguration, the military-industrial complex staged a coup d'etat against these legitimately elected officials. That's essentially what happened in Spain in 1936.

For centuries, Spain was a reactionary monarchy until 1931-- when its king went into exile to avoid a riot, after enough Spaniards had overwhelmingly demanded a free society. Spanish women then gained the right to vote and to divorce, and soon, even more social advances were made.

In George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia, Spain was described as "a thrill of hope. For here at last, apparently, was democracy standing up to fascism." But this is Black History Month, so I'll be highlighting a far lesser-known account of the Spanish Civil War than Orwell's classic.

Another book that racism has sadly rendered obscure is Mississippi to Madrid by James Yates -- who fought, as Orwell did, on the side of Spain's fragile, besieged democracy.

Yates was born in Mississippi and came of age there during the Great Depression, so you know he went through hell. The one bright spot in his apocalyptic upbringing was professor Thomas Blakeney, a utopian teacher who told him without the slightest trace of sarcasm, "In less than 100 years, we will have a black president of the United States of America! A great day is coming when blacks will be voting all over Mississippi!"

Well, at least half of Blakeney's prophesy came true. ...

Escaping to Chicago when he was old enough, Yates rejected the separatism of the black right and embraced the communal white left early on in his political development.

"I was part of their hopes, their dreams, and they were a part of mine," Yates wrote. "And we were a part of an even larger world of marching poor people."

On July 18, 1936, most of Spain's military -- led by a prick named General Franco -- mutinied against its leftist democracy. And on Dec. 26, Yates officially became part of that "larger world" by joining a brigade of international volunteers that Spain recruited to defend itself from the bloody coup. Spain's international brigades were the first to ever be integrated with black American soldiers.

Unfortunately, just as America is currently maintaining an embargo against Cuba, Spain was similarly isolated in 1936. Spain's legit government was denied medical supplies, while its coup was heavily sponsored in one of the most glaring examples of right-wing bias in human history. As Yates put it, "Capitalists were not only lending the fascists moral support, but supplying them with guns, planes and tanks. The fascists, including Hitler's Germany, received oil from the United States, and in particular from the large oil companies. Without that support they could not maintain their huge war machines."

Meanwhile, impoverished volunteers like Yates had to sneak into Spain -- just to get shot at! In fact, Yates had to climb a mountain just to cross the border!

Between Franco being backed by both the Axis and the Allies and the infighting instigated by Stalin within the international brigades, the fascists had conquered Spain by 1939.

Yates eventually became president of the Greenwich Village-Chelsea Chapter of the NAACP in the 1960s.

"During that time, our branch sent tons of food and clothing to Mississippi," Yates wrote, which tells me that Spain's suffering wasn't in vain -- as long as whoever was fed and clothed by Yates benefited from the solidarity he learned over the years. It's truly ironic that the great state of Mississippi not only owes its native son, but also the left wing that it's demonized for so long.